Yesterday, a new gameplay trailer was released for YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of This World (which I will only refer to as YU-NO going forward in this article). Spike Chunsoft had a separate live stream to talk about the game, and here is what I learned.
YU-NO is an adventure game, but it’s a re-release. The first version was on PC in 1996, and the Saturn had a release in 1997. The age shouldn’t concern you, because the art has been completely redone. It does explain why it looks a little older in the general style of gameplay. The music has had some freshening up too, because the soundtrack, all 5 CDs in the limited edition, have original and remixed tracks.
Arguably, the most interesting fact about the game’s history is that, even if you are not familiar with YU-NO, you do know the game and series it inspired – Steins;Gate. The time travel concepts are similar to the parallel world hopping and illustrate the possibilities and dangers associated with each. I have wondered if MAGES keeps a physicist or two on staff and may be using the game funding to create some kind of quantum trouble in the future (or past). They do know a lot about the topic.
It’s not all serious. Beyond using the reflector device to return to different worlds and timelines, the gameplay trailer shows you can fall in love with all the ladies in Takuya’s life in Sakaimachi and less mundane locales. You can see them and check out a brief description of them on the character page of the official site. There is also info about the game’s systems, so you can get a better idea of the gameplay.
That gameplay tells the story of Takuya Arima. The highschooler receives a package from his father who died a few months earlier. It contains a reflector device that allows him to travel to parallel worlds, and unravel a huge mystery about his own world. Very cool indeed.
If you want to see how cool, the anime is currently running on Crunchyroll and Funimation. It will go to 26 episodes, and, as of this article, it’s at episode 19. I’ve seen a good chunk of it, and it’s worth a watch. The game delivers more story and character details and multiple endings, so you won’t be completely ruining everything if you give it a try.
If you already love it, there is a limited edition version on NIS America’s online store. I can only find it in the European version of the store, but I could be missing it. It contains the 5 CD soundtrack I mentioned, a hardcover art book, a collector’s box, the mini cloth poster (sample image below) you can get with the PS4’s Day 1 version of the game, and a pillow case. (These Japanese companies really know their audience, and I love it.)
YU-NO is releasing really soon. It will arrive in North America on October 1st and Europe on October 4th. Check out the gameplay trailer and screenshots to see if this is another game you need this year.
